Pages

Sunday, January 30, 2011

One of the cookbooks I received for Christmas was Flour by Joanne Chang. Unfortunately I have never been to her bakery in Boston but I do know that she is one smart cookie! Not only does Ms. Chang have a degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University, but she also took down Bobby Flay in a Throwdown with her recipe for Flour's Famous Sticky Buns.

I have heard great things about this book so I was excited to be trying my first recipe from it. I was really in the mood for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but wanted to make them a little bit different by adding some dried blueberries. I love dried blueberries and use them not only in baking, but also as a topping on my oatmeal.

This recipe does call for the cookie dough to be chilled for at least 3 hours so plan accordingly. I would suggest that you follow this recommendation because even after 3 hours in the refrigerator my dough was still very pliable. I imagine that if you did not cool the dough they could spread a lot during baking. Although mine did hold their shape quite well, next time I will make the dough in the afternoon and chill it overnight. Cookies for breakfast sounds good to me ;)

I thought that the cookies were delicious and I can't wait to try more recipes from this book. Next on my list are the Lemon Lust Bars. If you like to see measurements in metric you will love this book - ingredients are listed in both imperial and metric. Another fun thing is the book is the "same recipe, different flavors" note at the bottom of some of the recipes because of all of the additional options it gives you.

I also wanted to say a big thank you to Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet and Tungsten Toffee. As the winner of Wendy's giveaway I was able to select one of the Tungsten toffees to try. I decided upon the Espresso Dark Chocolate Toffee. It was oh-so-good. If you are looking for something delicious for yourself as a treat, or maybe something special for a friend, I would definitely recommend this toffee.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

As soon as I saw cream cheese as an ingredient I was hooked. I first saw this recipe on What's Cookin' Italian Style. I also loved the sound of the combination of banana, orange, and cranberry. If you get a chance take a look at this site. I am amazed that there is a new recipe every day, which I could only dream about.

I decided that I would take the opportunity to use some Ocean Spray Craisins Pomegranate Juice Infused Dried Cranberries. I don't know if I could really taste the pomegranate, but they may have been a little sweeter. One thing I did love was the creaminess of the batter for this cake. You know when you just look at the batter and think yes, this is going to be a good cake. This was that kind of batter.

Before I knew it had all come together and was ready to be baked. I loved that it made two loaves, but in hindsight I should have made a double batch. Not to worry as I always have bananas ready for some toe of bread.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Happy Australia Day! This time last year I was in Australia to celebrate. There is nothing quite like being in downtown Sydney, near the Rocks, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and the Opera House to celebrate. For those unfamiliar with this day, Australia Day is celebrated on January 26 each year to commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788.

I wanted to make something that I miss from Australia. I considered so many recipes before deciding upon sausage rolls. Growing up it wasn't a birthday party without toffees, sausage rolls, butterfly cakes, and fairy bread. When I visit Australia I have a checklist of foods that I must eat while I am there - meat pies, custard tarts, Cherry Ripes, lamingtons, Nice biscuits, tinned coffee and milk, and sausage rolls. It is funny the things you miss when you move away to another country.

Sausage rolls are basically sausage mince wrapped with puff pastry. Of course you can't buy sausage mince here, so I had to find an alternative. I found that the tube of regular Jimmy Dean sausage works well but you could also purchase regular sausages and remove the casings. I also use a product from Australia called Mixed Herbs to flavor the sausage. My container describes it as "a traditional herb blend to use in stuffing, meatloaf, savory scones, breads, and muffins". It also states that it is a mix of dried thyme, rosemary, marjoram, basil, oregano, and sage. You could easily make your own mixture by combining these dried herbs in a jar. I would suggest that the main herbs are sage and rosemary, at least that is what I smell predominately when I open the jar, and then undertones of the rest of the herbs.

Once again I had a battle with the puff pastry just like I did for the Spiced Apple Tarts. Trader Joe's could you just open here already so that I can buy flat puff pastry sheets? The rest of the prep is a breeze. Rather than waste a pastry bag I just put the filling into a Ziploc bag and cut off part of the corner. Remember to cut it small because you can always cut a larger hole if needed, but you can't make it smaller. Can you tell who had to transfer her filling to another Ziploc when she cut the hole too big?

Whilst these bake the house smells just wonderful. That mix of pastry and herbs is somewhat intoxicating. They are best eaten warm out of the oven but they do re-heat quite well too. We eat ours with ketchup, or tomato sauce as you would say in Australia.

So, if you were to move to another country, what food would you miss the most?

Monday, January 24, 2011

I am a big fan of ginger, especially in baked goods. On my trip to Australia a few months ago I discovered a new taste sensation in the form of dark chocolate coated ginger. I brought a box back with me but it didn't last long. When I saw this recipe for Double Ginger Chocolate Cookies on I'll Have What She's Having I knew I'd have to try it.

Recently I placed my first order with King Arthur Flour. I received a packet of their baking chips once as a gift and since that time I have been ogling the catalog and fighting with myself - should I or shouldn't I? I am so glad that I finally caved as not only do they have excellent products, but their customer service is probably the best I have ever encountered. Without going into details let me just say that I came away from the experience as a customer for life. And no, I did not receive any free products, just excellent customer service, something that seems to be lacking in some other businesses these days. And my order shipped quickly too, which is always a bonus.

One of the products I purchased was Black Cocoa Powder. It is described on their site as "super-dark, super-rich Dutch-process cocoa that will make the darkest chocolate cake or cookies you've ever seen". This was exactly how I wanted these cookies to look. You only have to use a small amount to achieve this. Also, to boost the ginger flavor I decided to add an additional ingredient - finely chopped crystallized ginger. I love the sweet bite of crystallized ginger, and I love adding it to cookies as you get nice little bits in each bite.

These cookies did not last long. They looked liked a dark chocolate cookie, but smelled just like a ginger cookie - the best of both worlds! I think that they would make a great base for ice cream sandwiches.

So tell me, what are some of your favorite companies to order from online?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Today, January 23, is National Pie Day. It was created by the American Pie Council. The American Pie Celebration began in 1986 to commemorate Crisco's 75th anniversary of "serving foods to families everywhere." I had every intention of baking a mile-high pie today. My time management skills were severely lacking today so a pie became a simple tart.

Once I realized that the pie was a no-go I quickly thawed out a couple of sheets of puff pastry. I don't know why Pepperidge Farm doesn't package their pastry sheets in flat package because it is a total pain to unfold them, and they are always getting stuck together. Out came the rolling pin and I quickly repaired the damage. To make the little tarts I simply used a circle cutter and made 6 circles out of each sheet. I placed then on a Silpat so that they would be not stick to the pan.

I then layered apples over the top in a circular pattern. I decided to use a spice that I picked up in Australia called Mixed Spice. It is a blend of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. After sprinkling a little of the spice on each tart I put them in the oven for about 20 minutes. The pastry puffs up and cooks to golden brown, and the apples soften slightly. Once they came out of the oven I heated up a little marmalade in the microwave and brushed it over the top as a glaze. You could also use apricot or pineapple preserves with similar results.

This is such a quick and easy dessert to make. Little effort and big reward. I topped it off with a scoop of Salted Caramel Ice Cream and we were all very happy campers.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

It is Cake Slice Bakers time again. For those unfamiliar with the Cake Slice Bakers we are a group of baker's from around the world who are baking from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. This month we are baking a Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I looked through the list of ingredients. There is only a small amount of flour, along with the ground graham crackers, which seemed a little strange. And then there was the marshmallow fluff, something I have never even thought of using in as an ingredient before. I don't even really like marshmallows themselves. However, I am up for a challenge so I pushed ahead with the recipe.

Once everything has been measured out and is ready to go this cake comes together quickly. I had it in the oven in no time. Instead of greasing and flouring the pan I used a square of baking paper to prevent sticking. To make it a little easier I gave the pan a quick spray with Pam just to keep the paper in place whilst I was spreading out the cake batter. It worked like a charm and definitely made the cake a cinch to get out of the pan after cooling.

This is not a high-rising cake at all. After spreading the batter out in the pan it is only abut 1 to 2 inches high, and it will not rise much more during baking. Don't worry about this because it is a snacking cake, not a layer cake, and it comes out just fine.

Be warned that the icing is sweet - very sweet. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It would seem that since this is a snacking cake, it would mean that you only need a small piece to snack on, therefore the icing is in proportion. For me the texture of the icing was a little soft. I wanted to pipe icing on part of the cake so I added an extra cup of powdered sugar to make it a little studier.

Once the cake was ready for the icing I cut it in half. For one half I used fluted cutters to make some shapes, and piped the marshmallow fluff icing on top. We immediately snacked on the leftover bits. I gave the other half to my youngest daughter and let her decorate it. She was so dedicated to the job and started of piping the first initial of my name on the top, and then filled in the rest of the top with little peaks. That's my girl!

All in all, I liked this cake. It isn't fancy, doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but I don't think that it ever pretended it would. It is quick, easy and very tasty. I might be tempted to just do a buttercream with maybe a little cinnamon in it, rather than the marshmallow fluff as the frosting next time, but that's just me. The wonderful thing about the Cake Slice Bakers is that you will get lots of different opinions about this cake. Visit the Cake Slice Blogroll for clickable links to everyone's blogs and see what they thought about the Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake.

Grease an 8 inch square baking pan and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra (or use baking paper like I did).

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat until smooth.With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, stirring until combined.

Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, ending with the flour.

Stir in the chocolate chips.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up to cool completely.

Preparation – Frosting

Place the butter in a medium mixing bowl and beat until creamy.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in the vanilla and the marshmallow fluff and beat until smooth.

Use immediately or cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.Cut the cake into squares and serve each one with a dollop of frosting on top. (Bring the frosting back to room temperature first if it has been stored in the fridge).

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

It was a little bit of a surprise to find out it was Tuesday today. It is always like this on a long weekend. I think that the holiday Monday is Sunday, Tuesday is Monday, and so on. It usually takes me a week to catch up with the right day. However, I already had my To Try Tuesday made and ready to be blogged about.

This week's recipe comes from Deb at Kahakai Kitchen. Deb also lives in Hawaii and we met up recently for coffee. She is a great person and so easy to talk to. If you haven't been over to visit her blog I strongly urge you to do so. It is full of wonderful recipes, including the broccoli soup that I made for this post and her split pea soup that recently made the Foodbuzz Top 9.

This soup is souper-easy easy to make and so tasty. To make it even easier I purchase a bag of broccoli from Costco that is already cut up. Basically there is a little sautéing of the onions, celery, and garlic and then everything else goes in the pot until tender. I used my immersion blender rather than transferring everything to a regular blender to purée it. I didn't have any thyme so I omitted it, but I will definitely add it next time. I also added some cream and a little grated Parmesan cheese to finish the soup. It was delicious! We easily served 6 with left-overs. I am sure it is going to be even better tomorrow.

Monday, January 17, 2011

The time is always right to do what is right ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I awoke to a strange noise this morning. OK, it was 8:00 a.m but I was still hoping to sleep in a little longer. It turns out the noise was the sound of a "do not park" sidewalk sign being collapsed and thrown in the back of a truck over and over. The Sony Open was on this weekend near my house and I guess they were doing a little housekeeping.

After a quick breakfast I decided it was a great day for baking. I always have a list of recipes I want to try but today I was asked to bake brownies by one of my daughters. To make them a little different I though I would add a layer of Kit Kat chocolate bars. I purchased the two of the King Size Kit Kat's that contain 12 bars per packet. For a 9x13 pan I used 16 individual Kit Kat bars. After covering the bottom of the brownie pan with non-stick baking paper I added a layer of brownie mix. I then added two even layers of Kit Kats, and topped them with another layer of brownie mix.

Now for the confession. I used a box mix to make these brownies. A friend of mine used to own a coffee shop and she had the most incredible brownies for sale. I asked her one day what the secret was to her moist, chocolaty brownies and she confessed that she bought the Ghirardelli mix in bulk from Costco. From that time on I also purchased the Ghirardelli Chocolate Triple Chocolate - Semi-Sweet, Milk, Bittersweet - Brownie Mix from Costco to make my brownies. It works for me but please feel free to substitute your favorite brownie recipe.

So, there is no official recipe for these brownies but here is what I did. I used two packets of brownie mix so that I could have enough to make a bottom layer and to cover the top layer of Kit Kats, and followed the directions on the box. As I mentioned above I used one and a half packets of the King Size Kit Kat packets (16 sticks). They baked for 50 minutes and they were pretty darn good, even if I do say so myself.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I love visiting Farmers' Markets. When I am lucky enough to travel I always try to find out where the local farmer's market is and add it to our plans. It tells you so much about the neighborhood. There is just something special about all of the incredibly hard workers who make up the market. Besides the goods they are selling they all have a story to share.

My local Farmers' Market is The Saturday Farmers' Market at the Kapiolani Community College, just a few minutes drive from Waikiki. It is co-sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College. It is the largest Farmers' Market in Hawaii and the only one featuring all Hawaii grown and produced foods and flowers. Vendors selling their goods at this market have extremely strict guidelines to follow regarding the origin of their goods. Some of the guidelines include:

Fruits, vegetables, and flowers must be grown in Hawaii.

All ready to eat, processed and value added food products must be made in Hawaii in a certified commercial kitchen and Hawaii grown ingredients should be incorporated into the product whenever possible (the greater the percentage of Hawaii grown ingredients used in ready to eat food products may determine a vendor’s participation in the markets).

All beverages sold need to be bottled or produced in Hawaii. This applies to soft drinks, bottled water, tea, coffee and other items sold in the market.

There are some wonderful vendors at this market. Most of them are there every week, although sometimes a new one comes in to fill in a spot for someone who is sick. Each week there is a Tip Sheet produced so that you can check out exactly who will be at the market on Saturday. You can also follow the market on Twitter @HNLFarmers for market updates, specials & pictures.

I saw so many things that I wanted to buy. Dean Okimoto's Nalo Farms has some of the best greens. Nalo Farms supplies approximately 130 restaurants with over 3,000 pounds of their tasty greens each and every week, including Roy's. I always stop by the Hawaiian Fudge Sauce stand. Seriously, you will think that you died and went to heaven after tasting the samples. It is very hard to walk away with just one jar of fudge sauce. I recommend you buy a few because this stuff is good right off the spoon, so you might need another jar for your ice cream. I tried some samples from Honomu Jams and Jellies - Passionfruit Butter, Passionfruit Ginger Jam, Tahitian Lime Ginger Jelly, Sugar Free Waimea Strawberry (made with blue agave). They were all excellent and the taste of the fruit really shines through. I found it hard to choose, so I picked two, and will go back in a few weeks to try a few more.

After visiting the market I drove down the road to Diamond Head Market Grill. Their blueberry scones are legendary and on the weekends they also have banana scones (Fri-Sun). These scones are different from your average scone. They are so moist and cake-like, and have a very light vanilla glaze on top. They also have a wide range of prepared foods that make this the perfect place to stop before you head out for a day at the beach, or you can enjoy one their breakfast or lunch plates. They may not have a view but their food more than makes up for it. And if you do need a view the beaches of Waikiki are a few minutes down the road, and so is the beautiful Kapiolani Park.